Dave WM

This guy does a lot of interesting videos. Don't know if he is a member here, but this one is very interesting.

nice video

I am thinking it was in the 300-500 range, but that is IIRC.. Pretty sure 12/500 .024amp should keep it off. Could just get a 1k pot and see where to go from there. then use the high resistance reading for the starting point. “Negative Temperature Coefficient”. NTC thermistors are resistors with a negative temperature coefficient, which means that the resistance decreases with increasing temperature For liability reasons I don't know if its a good idea to make a recommendation. I think the OP should be able to make up his own mind from here what would be the best course of action.

in series with the bulb, cold (in liquid gas, current flows, but heat generated is dissipated by liquid) resistance is high, out of liquid the current flowing creates heat, as it heats up the resistance of the sender drops, allowing more current to flow, in series with the bulb. as the resistance continues to drop the light begins to glow. Always seemed odd to me to have something like this in a gas tank when it gets low enough to be out of liquid gas and if gas fumes. the FSM details a test process, but it is somewhat flawed in that it has you check it with a multimeter in the resistance setting. with so low test current there is very little heat generated so the change in value is not significant when in liquid (water for the test) or air. A better test would be to hook up a 12v batter and light bulb of the type used in the indicator. In series, this would flow enough current to make the test valid.

another observation about a professional mechanic, I am not one but I do see how if a car came to me with a lot of after market changes from OE may make me hesitant to want to take it on. Not that aftermarket is bad but it you would have to consider who was doing the work and to what degree was it done right. I think untouched cars that have worn out parts are often more desirable, simply due to the belief that incorrect work may not have been done. I used to work on a lot of vintage electronic gear, something I always hated to see was a set that had obvious work done on it. You never really know if the work done actually fixed a problem or became a problem. I would much rather work on an untouched chassis as I could be pretty sure a proper restoration would be easier than trying to unravel prior work done.

a few things, there are factory OE bushings, and then there are PU after market bushings (I see red bird has a lot of those), both available. I prefer factor OE when ever possible, they do have a correct method of install, such as not tightening the bolt until the car is loaded (on the ground not suspended in the air with the wheels hanging). This is due to the fact that the bushing is bonded to the inner metal part, tighten the bolt with the car in the air supported by frame and you pre stress the bond (when lowered to the ground). The PU bushings don't have this issue as there is no bonding (they are installed with a lubricant between the urethane and the metal inner part) . While being a mechanic is great, unless you know the ins and outs of a Z car, then forums with members that eat and breathe this stuff can be a better source info about what parts are available and what best practice may be. There will still be bad advise, so you need to try and figure out what people to listen to. One way of knowing is listen to those the have the most success with their own cars. Also if you get a consensus of opinion, avoid the outliers unless they are the only ones with success. One last thing on tightening, the FSM has specs on most every nut and bolt, IIRC these require 100ft lbs, which is a lot, maybe more than what might seem right if not consulting the FSM. there is not a lot of room under the car when its on the ground so if trying to tighten that way is may be possible that someone takes a short cut and just does not get on it hard enough. For me the best practice would be to load, tighten then lift and torque to spec, at least with OE bonded bushings. The bushing you currently have (red showing in photo) is an aftermarket PU style.

you are going to want to get a pressure gauge hooked up to the fuel rail for testing. the EFI has no feed back like an O2 sensor, it just relies on sensors for things like temp and air flow, based on what it sees it duty cycles the injectors, but since there is no feed back, it does know if the sensors are faulty and creating a mixture problem. So its very important that the ECU sees accurate results. Reading the plugs will quickly tell the tale of the mixture. the cleaning of the connectors and all the ground helps as well. the Temp sensor is the most problematic of the bunch, but easy to test with a ohm meter and a thermometer. Try to avoid the temptation of going right to the AFM, that tends to be the 1st line of attack by many, and in 40 yrs likely to have been cracked open and messed with. Save that for the last thing if the metering does not seem right, if its not been messed with it prob is ok.

rather than buying a new starter get out the multimeter and start checking for supply and signals 1st thing would be to look in the fuel tank, its most likely rusted. You may as well start with that. Pull it get it sorted out. A borescope down the filler neck will quickly let you know how bad the rust is. Next would be to check fuel lines likely plugged up, get that sorted out. then fuel lines (unless you like engine fires), vacuum lines. wire harness connections under the hood need to be cleaned as do grounds. get some good battery cables and a good battery. all this before anymore attempts at starting.

hmm I don't see the brass of the sychro on the 5th.

here is video about the pins

get the cheap trans jack (scissor) from harbor freight, works great. Hope you dont break the down pipe bolts, agree the exhaust is the hardest part, getting it up high on jack stands is a good idea too, IIRC I set it up to get about 30" clear space, prob dont need quite that much but more is better. If leaking oil replace rear main (it will be obvious with the cover plate off), also look for leakage at the rear bearing cap parting line, if you have a leak its possible that could be the reason. If you see leakage there you will need to pull the pan, prob best to put the trans back on and deal with that later when you dont have to support the engine. BIGGEST hint, get some longesh bolts same as the bell housing bolts, cut off the heads (you want 3-4" long), cut a slot in the end, screw them into the engine when ready to re install. they act like long dowel pins make is easy to line up the engine and hold trans while wiggling it in. After is slides home, unscrew the long bolts, use the slots for a screw driver if needed. You don't have to pull the center console, you can get at the c clip and remove and replaced with the trans in place. Just pull it and the pin and push the shifter up out of the way. Its tight but doable with out any real trouble.

I suspect there are more 280's out there than 240's and with a decent price more likely to drop the $ to get a good dash.

I feel sorry for the poor guy that must have been fighting it long enough to make those gouges. This is one reason why I like to do my own work whenever possible, assuming the prior owner had it worked on.

I "think" the EFI ground maybe the one under that same bolt shared by the monster on the fire wall.

I hope they plan to do 280z as well.

Just to be 100% sure the injectors are not working, use a stethoscope and listen to them. Have you checked to make sure the fuel pump is running while in the start position, as in a test light while some someone cranks, or just listening to it while cranking. Check the pins on the 35 pin connector make sure nothing is bent and therefore not making contact when attached to the ECU.

easy to do, get a BFAW to remove the strut glan nuts. At least a 2 footer (it will be big since you have to open the jaws enough to hold on to that nut). look on youtube for some video. If you have not used spring compressor before, just make sure you are safe.

memba this, still cracks me up

It would be nice if there was a list by pn of everything in that lot, along with pic's of the items in the boxes. Seems like a lot of money to purchase based on a pic of a bunch of boxes and some used parts. Maybe some of the hard core collectors know the value just by looking at that stash, but in my other hobbies I have found it helpful to see a list and pics.

yes its a gasket for both. Pretty sure you don't have to remove it, just lift away enough to the gasket over the studs.

got some cleaning to do!

I dug through my alum scrap and found nice Alum bush (guess that is what it was, about 1/2 dia about 1.5 inch long with a hole already drilled thru it. I had to open the hole up a bit to allow my 8mm 1.25 tap to fit, thru tapped it, then turned it on my small lathe. Used some all rod to make up the part that screws into the knob. so before and after

I just could not get used to that low position seem too much like a modern era car with the "short throw", so I went to the local hardware store and bought a 1" hex coupler (8mm 1.25) a 8mm stud about 2" long and a sleeve to cover the stud (think its about 1" long). the hex coupler screws into the shifter, then the stud into the top of the hex coupler, then slip over the sleeve (hides the stud and give the shift knob something to stop on). Now the shift knob is much more like the stock height and the throw is that nice long OEM amount. Places the shift knob right at hand level when resting on the center console arm rest. You can just see the hex part (its right at the top of the leather boot. The shiny sleeve looks good for the part that is exposed. Next I will see if I can machine a alum rod to replace all this hardware, it will just be a tapered shaft that is thru drilled and then tapped. the thicker end will mate with the shift shaft, the other will have some metric all rod that extends down thru it and is used for the connection to the knob. this will get rid of the separate hex coupler and sleeve. While the pieced together work its not very elegant looking, and since I have a lathe, I figured why not give it a try. Have to see if I have some alum stock laying around, I think I do.

disconnect the main wire to the alt, get some small small jumpers and use them instead of the fuse links. I just want to make sure your fuse links are NOT the problem. beyond that Steve J can guide you on best way go forward here is me with my total loss that happened when the alt shorted out. From you testing with the test light power from chassis to both sides it would seem you are ok, I just want to make sure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn867HfRaOg

on mine, when the alt diodes shorted it took out the fuse link. lost ALL power. Try this, disconnect the alt (main lead positive) and jumper over the fuse links (there are 2 IIRC) just to be sure. Since the alt is connected directly to the battery (thru the postive lead on the starter) you def sent reverses voltage to the rectifier built into the alt. Not sure the effect of that.. if that does not work you will just need to start tracing the power back to the fuse box. At least you dont have an EFI to worry about. I will defer to Steve J on this one.